Wicked Plots come to Light [Semi Open Pm for Entry]

[Deleted]

The night passed quickly and the group was finally in the town. Emily moved with a surprising speed and stamina. She was set on reaching the church and showing the others around, even though she had never been here yet. "So, I'm sure the church will be beautiful, with stained glass windows and statues of the saints." She was thinking back to her old home and expecting the same.

The town was quite ordinary and quiet, the perfect place to live if you did not like excitement and bother. The streets were made of white bricks as far as one could see and the houses were unique. Emily was a ball of joy here, greeting everyone they passed and swapping praises to the saint when they came. "So, where do you guys want to go first? We could do strictly business, or we could maybe go get some food and the like?"

Emily felt well rested despite the trip in the woods and all the chaos the night prior. Alex, Ventus, and his friend were all together with the team mascot, the wolf. Her face was beaming as she looked at them all. "Well, looking at you guys, getting cleaned up may just be the best option for starting us out. Good hygene is important you know. I know you guys don't care too much about all that but I do. I'm certain there will be a bath house around here somewhere." She carried on like this, never decidedly picking a place they should go to.

[Alex]

"A bath house? Of what kind?" Alex shuffled uncomfortably and let out a false laugh in an attempt to reassure himself. He wanted to get cleaned up more than anyone else, but sharing a bath with a girl? Alex flushed deep red and crossed himself.

Alex didn't really have any order of priorities other than finding someone to travel with for as long as it would take for him to feel comfortable travelling by himself, but he certainly knew he would also have to find a way to sustain and clean himself as well. Alex decided that, having known Emily the longest out of the group (and trusting her the most), he would stick with her for as long as possible before moving on to wherever seemed best. He stopped to consider the thought. Was that really the right thing to do? To attach himself to someone else, dipping into their purse and burdening their travels just so he could feel comfortable and safe while travelling? While it was true he had known Emily the longest out of the group, Alex didn't really know her at all. He would have to get to know her when he found the time, but for now he had the safety of numbers to help him.

As the group walked, Alex tried to keep himself around Emily, talking to her when possible. Within about half an hour of walking and talking, Alex had found out quite a bit about Emily; Her work for the church, her sister, her love for reading the scriptures. Alex didn't feel as though he had learnt to be familiar with her, as though she was purposely missing out bits, or keeping secrets, but everything Emily had said seemed to be truthful. Furthermore, even Alex understood that a lady must have her secrets.

In return, Alex told Emily what he knew about himself, most importantly about his visions. "There's one which keeps coming back...a woman, someone who...I seem to know very well...sh-she has a spear stuck through her..." For some reason, Alex couldn't help but wretch and silently weep when he told his story. "She was telling me that everything would be OK...but that I should run..." Unaware of Emily's history with premonitions, Alex asked "Do you ever have dreams like that? Where you seem to be remembering something that happened?"

[Ventus Stoll]

"Well, looking at you guys, getting cleaned up may just be the best option for starting us out. Good hygene is important you know. I know you guys don't care too much about all that but I do. I'm certain there will be a bath house around here somewhere." Emily said

"Oh yes! Let us get washed up before we continue. I feel so icky that I can't even muster up the courage to look at myself in the mirror." Aria clapped with glee and begun to follow Emily's pace. Ventus chuckled and said, "A little over dramatic don't you think Aria? However, I must admit that getting cleaned up would be nice."

Aria gave Ventus a little look when she responded, " I am not dramatic. You agreed with me and that's that. All I meant is that I feel so dirty and grungy that I can't handle it. My white robes feel all messy and my hair ... lets not even go there." Ventus responded back and the two went back and forth while playfully bickering and teasing each other. This was how the duo was and they seemed to enjoy it that way. They continued to follow Emily and Alex. Hopefully they would find this bath house soon, so that Aria could get washed up. I don't know what she's gonna do if we don't find this bath house. She is so determined to get washed up that she might go crazy if she gets anymore dirty. She is definitely a Germaphobe.

"Is that a bath house over there!?" Aria exclaimed as she ran towards a building in the town in front of the group. Ventus began to run after her. He didn't like the idea of her being alone in possible danger...

[Deleted]

OOC: My deepest apologies for my irregularity. Give me about ten more days and I will be fit to post regularly. Believe it or not I used to be known for being an extreme speed poster.

Aria was quite enthused at the prospect of a bath house and cleaning up. Emily could not help herself but to get caught up in the girl's shared enthusiasm and smiled. "Well, let's get cleaned up then!" Noticing Alex's reaction to a bath house he was either having dirty thoughts or was very shy about himself. Perhaps it was best not to clarify which she decided.

It was a good thing that Ventus and Aria had each other already, Alex was rather, talkative, if not clingy as they walked. He asked Emily all sorts of questions about her life. She told him about her preferences and loves, even how she was taken in from an orphanage and given a new life. She left out the facts of her dreams. Not only were they a constant topic of speculation the more they knew about it the more they would doubt her capabilities as an inquisitor. After all she had no formal training of any sort and was acting on what could very easily be heresy.

"I've experienced deja vu and the like before. I've also been haunted by bleak memories. Do you think that is what they are? Memories coming back to you?" Emily suspected it was not what Alex would hope but it seemed the most logical conclusion to her.

Before Alex could even decide to respond or not Aria found the bath house. The two girls ran ahead of the boys in excitement. "I think it is the bath house!" Emily exclaimed delightedly. At the entrance Emily noticed a man in priest's robes speaking with a man in tattered clothes. Perhaps he was offering him wisdom?

"It was not easy but we managed to get it here," She heard the tattered man say.

"Good good. After our previous idea was apparently carried off by a man with wings I was worried we would not be able to satisfy him. I will never trust that Lucius again, mark my words, he will be black listed from our church."

The priest's words were odd to Emily. Black listing a man from the church? What had he done so wrong? No man should be denied worship. A man with wings? She had no idea what was going on and decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Come on you slow pokes!" She waved the other two over before entering the building. They could feel an instant and steamy warmness upon entering. It was the type that left condensation upon your clothes and turned you wet without even being near water.

"Welcome." A man behind the front counter spoke. "How many will we be servicing today?"

"Two men, and two women." Emily answered taking charge.

"Very good. That will be 8 gold. Two per person. Just go to your respective baths and leave your clothes at the door. We will wash and mend them while you rest."

"Thank you very much!" Surly this was worth more than just 8 gold. Almost too good to be true. Looking at the ones that gathered with her, "Well, I think we can all use some repairs for our clothes." Paying the man she walked to the women's bath waiting for Aria.

[Alex]

[OoC: I'm back from college for 4 weeks now, so hopefully we can get a good bit of progression with this thread in that time.]

Upon seeing that the baths were not of the mixed variety, Alex gave a sigh of relief. He was still uncomfortable standing and stripping in a public bath house, but at least it wasn't in front of Emily. Aria he maybe could've handled as he didn't know her, nor did they talk much anyway, but Emily was the closest thing Alex had to a friend and he couldn't even begin to imagine how awkward he would feel around her while in such a state.

Setting these thoughts aside, Alex took his cloak off, then his boots and socks. Next he slipped out of the basic garment covering his upper half, folding things up and placing them in the designated area as he went. After removing his pantaloons, Alex wrapped a nearby towel round his waist before reaching up into it to remove his smallcloths. Once he was done undressing, Alex sheepishly moved towards one of the bathing areas and looked around. Despite there being no other clientèle to speak of and Ventus still being outside, Alex still felt the need to only unwrap his towel just before it touched the water. Even once he was in the pool, Alex continued to feel completely awkward about himself. He didn't think he had insecurities, per sé, but he just didn't feel right wearing such little clothing in a public area. He was really hoping no one came in and decided to start sharing his pool with him. Alex needed some time alone to gather his thoughts anyway.

[Ventus Stoll]

"How wonderful! What a pleasant place we have found. The inn keeper seems very genuine and kind," Aria said to Ventus as Alex and Emily went off to the gender differentiated bath houses. She grabbed held her staff softly as she turned her direction the women's bath house.

"Wait Aria, I don't like this. Something is off here. I feel like these walls are shouting 'Prepare to die children' written all over them." Ventus looked around once again. He came to eye contact with the man that seemed to be the only worker here. The pupil quickly turned back to Aria. "Just be careful Aria."

"You're scared of that guy? He's nice!" She waved at him and smiled as he repeated. "See he is a good person." The cleric walked over to her bath house and entered after she removed all of her outerwear. She smiled at Emily upon entrance.

Aria and her belief that people are good just because they can smile and wave. Not too realistic. I could do some snooping around just to make sure this place checks out. Ventus opened his Trinity tome and opened to the wind section. He looked it over briefly as he sat down at a bench besides the bath house. Ventus didn't want to seem suspicious. After some time passed Ventus seemed to have made a misjudgment. The pupil walked by the man once more as he gave an ominous smile. Ok I'm not leaving all of my items in this guy's possession. The pupil decided to wait for the others to finish and stood guard besides the two bath houses. He could take his bath once they were finished.

[Deleted]

[OOC: I think any bath house talks should be done as supports beyond the first post. Keep the story going and such.]

Emily began to undress as well now that Aria was there. It had been an incredibly long time since she had anyone her age to talk to, let alone bathe with. She did not take long to fully undress. She was fair skinned and in possession of no scars anywhere. She must have been incredible in her training to become a full inquisitor without any scars to show for it. Or could she have lied about it?

The water enveloped her body in short order, its warmth just as refreshing as being clean was. Emily sighed a sigh of satisfied relaxation. "So, Aria, what was your life like before you started traveling? All this time traveling and we've BARELY had the chance to get to know each other. Heck, I barely know Ventus either." Emily shook her head and sunk under the water holding her breath for as long as she could; it was about two minutes. Popping up above the water again she gasped for air. "I mean, Alex is nice and I know he's lost right now, but he REALLY needs to talk to you and Ventus too. I think he is clinging to me because of his lack of memory. Not inherently wrong, but in the long term of events it could become damaging for him socially. ...Sorry, I'm rambling and you haven't had a chance to speak yet."

The priest then entered the bath house himself getting a place just for him, the man in the tattered clothing is unsavory company after all. Before entering the bath the priest looked Ventus over. He made no attempt to cover his dissatisfaction at his existence. Filthy mage he thought.

After considerable time in the bath Emily finally left. She was dressed down without her armor. She even looked like a noble girl, save her leather hauberk. "Oh Ventus, You're done already?" She noticed he was still filthy and smiled gently with a giggle. "I see, keeping watch are we? Why thank you good sir. I feel safer already. Anyway, I'm going to go for a walk in the garden. Come join me when you're done if you like."

[Alex]

Once he realised no one else would be coming, Alex finally began to relax. He sank down into the water until his chin lay on the surface and reflected on the past couple of days, trying to make sense of it all. It felt like months to him but in reality it had barely been any time at all. He had woken up, made friends with a wolf cub, of all things, lost said wolf cub barely hours later, met some actual people and now he was in a bath house. Naked. His dignity in the hands of a complete stranger. "Oh, Gods," Alex thought, sitting up. "What if the owner takes my clothes? Tears them, or pawns them, or...?" Alex lay back again. Although he realised he liked to think of himself as suave and stylish, his clothes couldn't be worth that much, could they? Besides, the owner of the bath house seemed friendly and honest enough, though there seemed to be mutual yet unspoken unease and distrust between him and Ventus. "Not my problem." He thought. As long as Emily was around for him, he'd be fine, he figured.

After some more soaking, Alex finally climbed out of the pool, cupping his hands over himself until he had a towel firmly around his waist. After drying his hair somewhat, Alex put, most of his clothes back on, leaving his boots off (for he had a habit against wearing footwear unless his feet were completely dry), as well as his cloak to wrap both those and his tome in. Stepping out into the area where the owner was sat, Alex passed Ventus reading his tome. "Either he's keeping guard." He thought "Or he's waiting until everyone else is gone before sneaking in to bathe with Aria." Once again, Alex didn't care which. He didn't harbour any ill feelings towards either Ventus or Aria, he simply didn't feel like concerning himself with them. Sitting on the steps, Alex put on his remaining clothing and opened his own Trinity tome at the fire section. Ventus wasn't the only one memorising his magic.

[Deleted]

[See Alex and Emily Support for more]

Emily and Alex returned to the bath house in strained silence. Emily quickly went up the stairs and back inside. She looked around and the owner noticed her leering about. Where did the other two go? She felt a sinking feeling in her gut. The group had started with Six of them and now it was already down to just her and Alex. Her eyes fell to the floor, well, maybe they went on ahead to the church? They knew that they would be headed there after all.

"Excuse me mam. I am going to be the bearer of bad news and you ARE going to pay for the damage to the terrace are you not?" He looked at her expectantly attempting to keep his happy bearing.

"Oh, uh? Of course." Grabbing her wallet Emily dumped the money out onto the counter, "Will this be enough?" She looked troubled and concerned. She knew nothing of the value of things. The owner looked at the coin greedily, it would be easy to press the girl for more still, but she already put up more than enough.

"Yes, that will do."

"I am terribly sorry sir." Emily bowed until the man forgave her. Turning to Alex she sighed. "It looks like the other two are already gone. God forgive me for leaving them behind. I can only hope we see them again soon. For now, I must retrieve my gear, so that we can get going." In a back room Emily found her armor and weapons. Sighing she knew she could not dress herself in it at the moment and carrying it would be difficult. "Um... Alex, could I... Could you help me?"

[Alex]

Alex hesitated. He still felt awkward around Emily after what had happened away from the bath house, but he generally had a hard time holding on to such negative feelings and he had no reason not to help Emily. As she leant over to start gathering her things, Alex couldn't help but stand and stare at her, but after a moment he started to help without much reply other than a meek "sure", silently scolding himself for his lechery.

Once the two of them together had gathered up Emily's equipment, they headed outside and stood awkwardly for a few moments. Surprisingly, it was Alex who broke the silence. "I'm...I'm really sorry, Emily." He began "I've been acting like some pathetic child around you. I won't make excuses; I haven't any that are valid, but I just want you to know that, if I'm bothering you, just say so and I'll depart. I wouldn't like to become a burden on you; It was my fault that our group got split up, and I'd hate to cause any more problems for you."

In truth, Alex was sorely hurting for help. He had no aim in life and no one he could rely on. He would have loved to stay with Emily but he knew that overstaying his welcome would only earn him resentment from Emily. Regardless, he had left the choice with her. If she wanted him to go, he would do so, no matter how much it may hurt him.

[Deleted]

Emily waved away his self accusations. She had gotten angry and frustrated with him sure, but she did not blame him for their current circumstances. Besides, she was a rather optimistic woman, she fully expected to see the others again soon. Emily had intended for Alex to help dress her in her armor but he made such an honest effort to carry it all she could not bring herself to correct him on her intentions and smiled.

"Alex..." Emily began, unsure of how to approach this talk. Alex was in such an unstable and dangerous place. She did not want the hopes he placed in her to be falsified and wasted, but she did not want him to turn to obsession. Both were dangerous roads to travel. Then again, she did not feel he was in danger of obsessing over her. "I do not wish for you to continue to endlessly blame yourself for the things that happen. It is well to be meek and humble but it is only harmful to think ill of yourself."

Her eyes narrowed compassionately at Alex. What should she do to make him feel better? She still needed his help, or at the very least, she still wanted it. With her left arm, she gingerly raised it placing her hand behind Alex's neck. "I do not wish to see you leave. There is still much we could learn from each other." Mostly letting Alex move himself she pulled his face down to her chest in an embrace. "It's okay Alex."

[Alex]

Being a few inches taller than her, Alex found himself feeling a little awkward when Emily began reaching her arm around his neck, but his didn't feel his situation improve any when he felt himself being hugged towards Emily's chest. Not only was there the obvious problem of having to stoop a little so as to make the gesture comfortable for Emily, he now found his face pressed against the side of her bosom, turning redder by the second. He was happy to stare at such attractive girls, but when such things were being forced upon Alex so suddenly, most would describe him as rather shy, and certainly not the best in these situations. However, he managed to pull himself away after spending just long enough where he was to show Emily that he appreciated her warm gesture.

"Thank you, Emily..." He said, feeling relieved and touched that Emily was still willing to help him. "I'm sorry for being so needy towards you. I'm happy for us to share experiences with each other for as long as we travel, and I'm glad I woke up in this world just as you were passing by." For a few moments, Alex just stared into Emily's eyes, lost for words as he was taken in by her face. The silence was soon broken by the sound of thunder cracking across the sky. Alex quickly looked up, realised what had just happened in the past few moments, looked back to Emily, and then down at his feet in blushing embarrassment. Then, the rain started to pour down upon them. Looking up once again and then back to Emily, more composed this time, Alex realised that they needed to find some shelter. "Well, it's a good job we're carrying this, isn't it? Shame if it were to rust in the downpour. So, would you like to lead the way to the church?"

[Deleted]

With all the drama out of the way and dealt with Emily felt far better despite her arm. As the rain began to fall she ducked her head down and agreed with Alex that they ought to get moving. "Right, the church should be around the center of town, they usually are. Let us head that way for now!"

Emily tried to stay under low hanging roofs and terraces as they maneuvered through town. It was surprisingly easy to stay out of the rain unless crossing the stone streets, at which point the increasingly heavy falling rain would only get worse and soak the two to the bone. "Looks like a trip to the bath house was in vain!" Emily joked truthfully.

The buildings shielded the two from the increasing winds but on occasion they would be battered by rain being blown sideways, seemingly defying logic. "It is rather bad today. It was so sunny earlier too!" she mused. Before long she noticed the high pillar like front of the church. "We made it!"

Emily felt her pace quicken as she ignored the rain with singular focus. One of the clerics was standing just outside of the door ushering in passerbys that sought shelter from the sudden storm. The two entered without much notice.

The inner chapel was lined with numerous pews and alters to saints. The ground was laid out with crimson carpets and purple rugs. Candles burned inside their golden stands and the room was warm as blankets were being handed out. It was only midday Emily thought. "Looks like they expect the storm to last all night."

[Alex]

As the two ran through the rain, Alex held Emily's armour close to his chest, so as to keep it safe from the storm under his cloak. Was he carrying her breastplate? Gauntlets? Helmet? Did Emily even have a helmet? Alex held onto whatever he had with him and kept running just behind Emily. Having longer legs, Alex could have easily overtaken her, but he had to rely on her for directions to the church, so he wasn't really able to leave behind Emily, though it wasn't as if he wanted to. In fact, Alex was enjoying the experience he was having, rain included. He didn't know it at the time as he was too busy focusing on following Emily while keeping her armour dry, but Alex was in fact a pluvophile.

Regardless, as soon as Alex was up the steps towards the church, he outpaced Emily and threw himself across the threshold, desperately clutching to the armour. Doing an impressive forward roll as he landed, Alex came to stop on his stomaching, holding out the armour in front of him like a caught ball or precious vase, checking it over to make sure it was dry. Once he had confirmed this, Alex noticed that there was applause and cheers springing up all around him. Confused, he looked around; there were several children in the church, obviously sheltering from the storm until it was safe for them to return home. The children had obviously watched Alex's entrance and had been amused by him. Despite being the introvert he was, Alex couldn't help but smile, stand up and give a bit of a bow; Alex loved making small children laugh, and with the many children he would meet on his travels, Alex would become an adoptive big brother to more than a few of them.

[Cen]

Cen rode like hell between Thunder above and Thunder below, the claps of the storm overhead and the hooves of his horse of the same name. The young Cornwellian had a grip like steel on his reins, standing in his stirrups, leaning so far forward that he had his chest pressed onto Thunder's neck. They were making good time, the massive horse was fast as well as strong, and it was slowed only slightly by the heavy rain. The language barrier between the two giants of different species didn't prevent them from understanding that they both needed and wanted the same thing, shelter.

The rider should never have agreed to all of this. He'd helped a family displaced by the construction of a fort where their farm had once been, who'd found themselves in Lycia. He escorted them through the wilderness and around Etrurian military checkpoints to a small town, where the trio could stay with the mother's brother until they landed on their feet. Now however, the tall rider was lost, and the only thing he wanted more than to get out of the rain was to get out of Etruria. As a boy, he'd held tightly to the church, but as a man, their actions had pushed him away, and to be in a theocracy dedicated to a theater of violence made the farmboy's stomach churn. In the past days, he had rode past poverty, but the money collected at the churches during their services went to the church themselves, not the hungry who came to pray. If it didn't go to the army, that tore a wave of destruction through the continent under the standard of a woman who had once talked of peace.

Yet how could he claim he had the moral high ground, when he did nothing active to stop them?

For now however, his focus couldn't be on combating the spread of hate in the name love in the future, it had to be aimed at keeping himself and Thunder dry in the present. At high speed, he managed to make out his saving grace. Ironically for his train of thought, it was a church. Riding up, he gave Thunder the command with his knees to slow to a stop, then slid from his saddle, swinging his right leg over the horses head and hitting the ground in one motion. Then, without slowing, Cen sprinted up to the door of the Church. Before he had even reached the cleric at the front, he began to call out in a strained voice, "HELLO, DO YOU HAVE A PLACE WHERE I CAN GET MY HORSE OUT OF THE RAIN?"